DREAMING AND SINGING

I was out staring at the clouds the other evening as the sun set.

It may have been my cocktail but the more I looked, the more I saw.

If you look closely, and let your mind wander a bit, there's a face up there.  I swear it!

But then I saw this one, which really blew my mind.  It's a dead ringer for that drawing of a face with puffed out cheeks, blowing the clouds ahead of it, perhaps even blowing up some rain.

Am I crazy?

If you think I am, you've got to look at this video.  Just follow this link.  Enjoy and have a good weekend!

BRACE YOURSELVES!

You are about to see something you've never seen before.  At least not if you've known me for less than 50 years and I suspect all of you fit in that category.  SWMBO and I were discussing my long hair the other night and joked a bit about getting a buzz cut.  I haven't had one of those since about 1958 or 1959, I'd say.  But yesterday I went to a barber shop (oh, excuse me, a tonsorial salon) and told my "stylist", Ruby, to take it off.  Here are the brutal results.

SWMBO's first comment was "your dad just came out of you!"  She also said "I didn't think you would cut it that short!"  She thinks it will look better when it's grown out a bit.

As for the rest of you, you may now voice your opinions.  But take it easy.  I'm a sensitive guy.  

BLACKWELL

On July 22, 2010 I shot this video of a little urchin that kept visiting our house in Prescott Valley.  

He was a scrappy little rascal that I nicknamed "Blackie Detroit".  He constantly had open sores and scars from apparent fights with tougher foes in the neighborhood.  

Finally, we decided he wasn't going to go away so we took him in, took him to a veterinarian, got him "fixed" and made him an inside cat.  He thrived on the regular food in his dish.  He still has the urge to run outside through a carelessly opened door but most of the time he is content to spend most of his day sleeping.  And he has grown.

This picture was taken just the other day as he joined me for an afternoon siesta.

Oh, and somewhere along the way I changed his name to "Blackwell".  It seems to fit him better and, like a good friend to me, he recognizes his name and perks up his ears when he hears it.

Although he gives us fits from time to time he is a dearly loved member of our family.

A DAY IN DOWNTOWN

I had to go into downtown Phoenix for a doctor visit yesterday.  Afterward I decided to explore my old stomping grounds of years ago and see what had changed.  What I found was EVERYTHING!

Where once only a high-rise building or two formed the downtown skyline, now there are dozens.

I had parked at the Arizona Center garage.  When I got down to ground level, this is what I found.

The Arizona Center is a huge area of businesses, shops and restaurants between Van Buren and Fillmore Streets and 3rd and 5th Streets.  I stopped for lunch at 1130 The Restaurant and ate on their cool, shaded patio.

It's a pleasant place to dine as you watch the passing crowds of office workers.  It's been awhile since I was in a metropolitan setting and I was fascinated by how many of the passing women were wearing quite high heels and how nearly all of the men had on neckties.  I couldn't tell you how many decades it's been since I had to wear a tie and they seem totally unreasonable in Phoenix' climate.

While a busy place with banks and power company offices and restaurants and shops of all kinds, much of the Center has been taken up with beautiful gardens.

There was even a fountain of artificial rapids to give a sense of cooling on the hot summer days.

And potted plants, including my beloved Hibiscus.

These were actually pink though my camera makes them look more red.

And some beautiful yellow ones.

I was struck by the old St. Mary's Basilica now surrounded and dwarfed by huge modern buildings.  Still, I like the contrast.

Then there was this ugly old building, reportedly being refurbished for a new occupant.  SWMBO said it looked like it belonged in a slum area of Cleveland or Detroit.

She didn't recognize it which was not surprising.  And she was amazed when I told her it was 1101 North Central, where I spent 13 years working in television during the 1970's and 1980's.  Here's what it looked like "back in the day".

The television station has moved to a building it shares with the Arizona Republic newspaper, both owned by the Gannet corporation.  The change in appearance brings a feeling of wistfulness.  But then much in Phoenix has changed since I landed there many years ago and most of it is for the better, I think.

So it goes for my visit to downtown.

69 degrees South

SWMBO and I went to a performance yesterday by the Phantom Limb Company of "69 degrees South" at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.  It's a stunning presentation which refers to the Endurance Expedition to Antarctica of Ernest Shackleton in 1914.  His ship became trapped by pack ice and eventually sank.  The crew than began a seven month trek hauling lifeboats to reach the open sea and after another 7 days of rowing they reached Elephant Island.  

Shackleton, however, realized they had no hope of being discovered and resolved to travel 800 miles to a whaling station on South Georgia to get help.  He and five of his men made the journey in about three weeks and after three tries they returned to Elephant Island and rescued all of the other men.

The play is presented wordlessly by six characters who prowl the stage in costume and on stilts manipulating puppets to represent Shackleton and his men.

It is a stunning and somewhat puzzling performance accompanied by video images projected on a rear wall, glaciers rising from the stage, and a musical sound track performed by the Kronos Quartet.

The performers are excellent as they move around the stage, bending and weaving as they control the marionettes.

The New York-based Phantom Limb Company spent four years putting the show together, including a trip to Antarctica,  and collaborating with the Kronos Quartet on the sound track.  Additional music was provided by Skeleton Key.

If you want to challenge your brain . . you might try this avant-garde performance as it travels around the country.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE

Much has been made of Willie Nelson's 80th birthday recently and we join in the congratulations.  Willie, who is as well known for his marijuana habit as his singing, just keeps going.  At a concert in Florida after his birthday celebration in Abbott, Texas it was reported that someone tossed a hemp necklace to him as he came on stage.  He reportedly caught it in mid-air with a smile.  I don't know if the weed has kept Willie performing for all these years but a reviewer said he gave a rock solid performance for 90 minutes that night.

But today brings news of another legend of the music business.  Pete Seeger turns 94 today.  And he's still singing, recording and leading crowds through a rollicking performance of "This Land Is Your Land."

That's an early and a later picture of the great songwriter and performer.  You probably can't read the words printed on the face of his banjo.  It says "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."  Pete printed that after learning that his predecessor, Woody Guthrie, printed "This Machine kills Fascists" on the face of his guitar.

Pete was a member of the Weavers, a folk group from "way back". I saw him perform live a couple of times with Arlo Guthrie, the son of Woody.  If you get a chance to see them, it's a great show.

Happy birthday, Pete, and please keep on playing, singing and leading the rest of us to try harder.

SPF SIX ZILLION

A small biology lesson today.  

Watch out for the sun.  (Fine advice from a guy who just moved to Phoenix, right?)

When I was a young lad of half Norwegian descent I loved the sun and would play outside until I was burned to a crisp.  I never really tanned all that well, I just got sunburned.  Or as Woody Allen says "I don't tan, I stroke!"

As I got older and older I continued to worship the sun, spending many, many days at the beach and usually ending up with yet another sunburn.

Now, finally, I'm paying the price for it.

Those red spots above my right eyebrow (that's the one on the left in this photo) are tracks from my new dermatologist's liquid nitrogen spray.  That's how they take care of minor skin cancers these days.  Freeze them to the point of pain with a very cold spray.

Then there are the others, which require more invasive treatment, like the squamous cell carcinoma my former dermatologist cut out of my upper arm awhile back.  It left a barely discernible scar but it's still a scar.

Now that I'm an Old Fart, I can say whatever I want.  Here is what I say.  Stop tanning.  Use the highest SPF factored sunscreen you can find.  Wear a broad-brimmed hat.  

Avoid.  The.  Sun.

You'll thank me someday.